Microsoft 365 Government offers compliance with U.S. government regulations, but the higher the tier, the more features are missing. This makes understanding the value you’re receiving more complicated than for commercial customers.
This webinar covers the three tiers of Microsoft 365 for U.S. Government customers, and the feature limitations of the suite for government customers.
May 22, 2025Microsoft thinks that everything we know about application architecture will change as AI permeates every layer of the stack. And they’re putting their money where their mouth is with investments in new tools for what we’re calling “AI-native apps:” RAG, agents, fine-tuning.
What do you have to do to get ready? What does it mean for your data, for your developers, for managing your IT ecosystem? That’s what Barry Briggs will chat about – live, not a chatbot! – in our webinar.
June 19, 2025
With Microsoft’s repositioning of itself as an AI company, Directions analyst Barry Briggs discusses with Mary Jo Foley what enterprises really need to know about Microsoft’s AI strategy.
While some customers just cannot let go of their on-premises Microsoft products — for legitimate and not-so-valid reasons — the risks of running software on-prem are growing. Directions analyst Andrew Snodgrass talks with Mary Jo Foley about on-premises realities and provides some recommendations.
Whether you appreciate it, tolerate it, or want to stamp it out, Shadow IT is not going anywhere. Is this necessarily a bad thing? Directions analysts Barry Briggs, Greg DeMichillie and Rob Sanfilippo share with Mary Jo Foley their ideas for managing and channeling Shadow IT in this roundtable discussion.
Azure Reservations is one of the best ways enterprises can save money on their Microsoft contracts. But, as Directions’ Wes Miller explains to Mary Jo Foley, you need to know the gotchas before you jump in.
In this Webinar, Jim Gaynor & Greg DeMichillie discuss the latest versions of Microsoft’s on-premises server operating systems, Windows Server 2025 and Azure Local (formerly Azure Stack HCI), and the directions in which Microsoft is taking them.
February 20, 2025
Microsoft’s Unified Support plan is not beloved by many enterprises. US Cloud VP Mike Jones provides the latest on the plan, plus some support tips and tricks in this conversation with Directions’ Mary Jo Foley.
Copilots. LLMs. Models. Nearly everything coming out of Microsoft today revolves around AI—new technology, groundbreaking innovations, and a wave of new products and services. But is there a clear strategy behind it all? Barry Briggs from Directions on Microsoft, the world’s leading independent analysis firm covering Microsoft, takes a deep dive into the company’s AI…
Microsoft’s Azure Local falls in the uncanny valley between on-prem and cloud. Our newest analyst Greg DeMichillie shares his recommendations with Mary Jo Foley on what customers should (and shouldn’t yet) do with this technology.
The Directions on Microsoft analysts assess recent changes and key trends in Microsoft’s enterprise technology roadmap. We look back at the most impactful announcements of 2024 and make predictions about what will matter in 2025.